


A Tanuki's Fate

by tinajean92



Category: BNA: Brand New Animal (Anime)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:01:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26179159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinajean92/pseuds/tinajean92
Summary: Thrust into a world she hardly knows, she's on her own.Danger around every corner and she can't find relief.When she finds that relief can she hold onto it?
Relationships: Kagemori Michiru & Ogami Shirou
Comments: 3
Kudos: 45





	A Tanuki's Fate

Sitting atop a bus that was heading towards Anima-City was a small beastman. She’s been on the run for the last two weeks, the anti-beastman factionist had been relentless. Being so close to her goal she’d made a mistake. Kagemori Michiru had let her guard down, and now she was paying for it. In her exhaustion, she’d somehow missed the bikes of the ABF. The bolt stuck through her left side burns, as the stumbles from the roof another bolt pierces her left shoulder. She has a choice to either stay and fight or hope she survives the jump down the cliff into the forest. Gripping her side, she throws herself over the guardrail towards the forest, acquiring another bolt in her right thigh. Gritting her teeth, she expands her tail to help cushion the fall. As soon as she hit the ground the sharp jarring of the bolts makes her lose focus and crash into the dirt. She’s not sure how long she lays there until the distant sounds of dirt bikes reach her ears. Trying to blink away the spots and tunnel vision she forces her body to move. She can feel the way the bolts lodged in her thigh and shoulder impede her movements, but she doesn’t dare pull them out, she’ll bleed out faster that way. Lost in the pain she doesn’t realize she’s been found.

As soon as she realizes she’s surrounded Michiru grits her teeth and forces her abused body up. As the first man rushes her with a crowbar Michiru dodges the strike and claws the man’s throat, the second and third attack together. She ends up with a knife in her arm but manages to avoid the baseball bat clawing across his face. With two down Michiru turns and runs as fast as her failing body would allow. Seeing the bridge in the distance she runs towards it. As she breaks through the tree line, she sees a man with pure white fur running towards her. even from this distance, she can see his mild panic. Then there’s the twang of a crossbow and a sharp pain through her lower back has her dropping to the ground. She can hear shouting and what sounds like a fight, but her vision is fading. A shadow passing over her has her unfocused eyes looking up into worried crystalline silver eyes. He’s saying something but she can’t hear, the last thing she sees before succumbing to the darkness is the lone tear that trails down his cheek.

Shirou didn’t understand why he’d been forced to the mainland, it reeked of human. Deciding he’d been there long enough he turned to return to Anima-City when the crisp scent of iron reached his human nose. Whipping around he sees a young beastman break through the tree line, chased by two armed men. He’s running before he can think, panic clear on his face. She was already so heavily injured, when the twang sounded time seemed to slow as a bolt protruded from her stomach and she went down. He made quick work of the attackers before looking down into dulling pink and teal eyes, she looked so young. As her eyes closed, he scooped her up and bolted towards the bridge. Shifting once he passed the threshold, he set a vicious pace, hoping to get to the medics on the other side before it was too late. He burst into the med center not moments later shouting out for help. As doctors and nurses rushed to save the girl, he finally took notice of the Mayer standing by the desk looking at him. She beckoned him into the OR viewing room.

“Ogami, I see you found Ms. Kagemori.”

Sigh “So why send me to retrieve a little girl?” The mayor let out a sad huff of breath before turning to face him properly. He didn’t know why but his heart suddenly hurt, the look on her face.

“Ms. Kagemori isn’t a little girl Shirou, she turns 20 in a couple of weeks.” The way his eyes widened as he snapped to the girl on the table. There was no way, she looked maybe 16. It was then he noticed the small puffs of steam coming off of her. “We’ve been tracking her for the last 8 years.” At the admission, he turned his gaze back to the mayor. 

“What do you mean you’ve been tracking her for 8 years?”

“Shirou” She looked so sad like she did when he’d rescued her from the lab. “You’ve heard the rumors of the return of the tanuki beastman species. It’s true to a point, except you're looking at her.” Shirou went pale. He remembers their species, true shifters. Looking back at the girl he takes in her markings and realizes with a start, it’s true.

“But they’ve been extinct for hundreds of years, none of their bloodlines survived. They were thought to be bad omens and hunted fiercely. How didn’t we know about her before 8 years ago if she’s almost 20?” Shirou growls out, feeling the sting of failure for some reason. 

“We didn’t know about her until then. It wasn’t until a rumor of the ABF searching for a tanuki that we discovered her. From everything we’ve found she was human until one day she wasn’t.” Shirou watched as her eyes grew misty before something stuck out to him.

“You said you’ve been tracking her for 8 years; she would have been almost 12 when she shifted. Her parents had to have known, why’d she run instead?”

“As I said, she was human, and then she wasn’t. Her parents are Anti-beastman factionist, they’d have killed her on-site. She’s been living on the streets since she ran.” He watched as a single tear slid down her cheek. She knew hardship, yes, but she hadn’t been captive for more than a few months before he’d saved her. Turning to the young tanuki he felt the weight he’d been avoiding settle. She’s been alone on the streets running from human and beastman alike for almost half of her life. The sound of a grounding breath drew his attention back to the mayor where she hands him a thick manila folder.

Opening the folder reveals a picture of a young human girl with vibrant teal eyes and short blueish black hair. Next to it is an enlarged picture of a brown-furred young girl with vibrant pink teal eyes and short blue and black hair. Flipping through the pages he finds more images of the girl and then suddenly two years ago the pictures remain the same. He reads through the notes of the blood samples left behind during encounters she had to fight to escape. He sees a startling similarity when he reads through the reports. He turns to comment on it when a vicious growl rips through the air. Whipping their heads towards the room they see a fully shifted wolf crouching on the table as the doctors back away. Shirou feels his own wolf come to life, responding to the fear in her growl. Dropping the file, he’s running before he can process what’s happening. Bursting into the room her shifts into his wolf form and gets between the doctors and scared girl. 

She doesn’t know what's happening. She remembers running, blinding pain, and then flashes of white and crystalline silver. So, when she wakes up on an operating table surrounded by strangers she doesn’t hesitate. She shifts into a large wolf, not the two-legged form but the four-legged kind. When the white-haired man bursts into the room and shifts into a two-legged white and silver wolf she bares her fangs and releases the most vicious deep-chested growl she can. She watches as he starts telling the doctors to run. She takes in her surrounding through the corners of her eyes. She’s in an operating room with only one door and window that he’s currently blocking. Soon enough she can’t smell anyone but the wolf before her and that’s when he fully shifts into a four-legged wolf. He’s bigger than her but that doesn’t stop the snarl tearing from her throat, warning him to stay away. She can feel her hackles rising as she crouches lower, ears pinned back, teeth bared. 

Shirou waits until no one can see him shift, hoping that his wolf can breakthrough to her. The warning snarl he receives has his wolf's hackles raising, not in anger but in desperation as all he can smell is fear. He lowers his head and lets out a whine he didn’t know he was capable of. He takes a tentative step forward stopping when a second snarl splits the air. She’s crouched her hackles fully raised, tail straight up. He realizes at the same time as his wolf that she doesn’t understand, she’s too used to being alone and fighting for survival. As he takes another step towards her head still bowed, she lunges. 

The whine she hears sounds so desperate like he’s willing her to understand, but she doesn’t. When he steps towards her, she snarls again, she doesn’t know what he wants. Her fight or flight is in overdrive telling her to get away, she knows she can’t win but she’ll be damned if she doesn’t try. When he takes another step forward, she doesn’t allow herself to think, just act. She lunged, a chill-inducing snarl ripping through her open maw. She’s on him in a second, going right for the throat. 

Before he can react, she’s at his throat sinking her teeth in and thrashing to get him onto the ground. Twisting around he snaps at her exposed side. Instead of letting go, she bites down harder trying to find purchase on the tile as her full body rams him into the floor. His wolf comes roaring to life once more snarling and grabbing her exposed flank to throw her off. Then he’s on her pinning her down until her hind paws dig into his underbelly shoving him away. She rounds on him in an instant gripping onto the scruff of his neck and tossing him away from the exit. Before she can bolt, he grips her hind leg and drags her back, she’s too dangerous right now. Turning on him, teeth bared she grips his muzzle trying to force him to release her. He can see the unadulterated fear in her eyes, the need to get away. Then she’s releasing his muzzle, instead rearing up and gripping the side of his throat in a vise-like grip, cutting off his air. He tackles her through the table, throwing machines all over as he works to dislodge her. Its when he rams her through the window that she releases him.

Standing outside of the medi-cen all that could be heard was the vicious sounds of fighting. Snarls, growls, pained whimpers, the sound of claws on tile, of machinery and furniture being broken. It’s when the mayor’s assistant hands her a tablet with video footage that she sees the true carnage. She couldn’t stand to watch so she turned it off, her heart hurt for the poor girl. Its when the sound of shattering glass reaches them that she turns her tablet back on.

She lays there panting covered in blood and glass that she lets loose a pained whine, one that is so lost and confused he can’t help but respond. He slowly approached her, head still bowed, soft whines coming from his muzzle. He can see the fear and uncertainty in her eyes at his approach until he lowers down, and starts rubbing his muzzle gently against hers, and starts to lick at her face. She releases a pitiful whine before he sees the tears cascade down her fur. He shifts back into his two-legged form, gently crouching down to gently rub at her head, whispering small reassurances. She shifts back to her tanuki form, crying softly about how she doesn’t know where she is or what's happening. He gently pulls her to his chest as he sits, holding her until her sobs quiet and she goes limp in his arms. Turning towards the door he sees Rose watching with a sadness he’s never seen in her eyes.

“Shirou, are you both alright?”

“I’ll be alright and she’s already healing as well.”

“I’ll have clothes brought for you both, and then we’ll head to the Beastman Co-op.”

“What’s going to happen to her?” He doesn’t know why he asks, but his wolf is suddenly pacing in the back of his mind. Anxious at the thought of her not being within his sight. Seeing the flash of fear in his eyes Rose gives him a sad yet soft smile.

“I’d actually like you to take her under your wing, help her reintegrate. She’s been alone for too long.” As she turns to the girl in his arms, he sees the same look she’d given him so so long ago. He may not be the most social, he’s not social at all, but he knows what she’s going through. 

“I’ll take care of her; she won’t be alone any longer.” Glancing down at the slumbering woman in his arms he can’t help but feel sad. He’d been alive for just over a thousand years but even in the beginning, he’d certainly not been truly alone. She’d been forced to be an animal, alone with no one near.


End file.
